Lem’s two great stengths are the ability to render strange worlds in convincing detail, and a knack for thought-provoking themes.  This book has both of those in full force.  The Invincible is a grand starship that lands on a remote planet to investigate the disappearance of a previous exploration. They find the hulk of the old ship and few clues. Gradually they piece together what might have happened and then have to confront the same enemy themselves: hostile, self-replicating, mindless machines. How do you confront a deadly enemy that isn’t even alive?

It’s a fun read, but I found my self skimming. The characters are mostly mouthpieces for Lem’s speculations and take turns giving speeches.  This might be tolerable because the ideas are so rich, but the main hypothesis about the story situation isn’t even introduced until page 110. That is a very, very, slow burn. Even then, facts are few and it amounts only to unfounded speculation. Small scenes with dramatic tension are entirely manufactured, not organic to the storyline.

Offsetting lack of compelling characters is vivid description of the desert-like planet and the slick technology the Invincible’s crew uses to explore it. I gave some thought to their main weapon, an anti-matter blaster. Would that really be the “ultimate” weapon? Seems like it would counteract any known threat in the universe as long as you believe matter, particles, electromagnetics, and “standard physics” prevail everywhere. I decide that’s a reasonable, but hubristic and risky assumption. But such are the thoughts that Lem provokes.

The enemy robots are anthropomorphized to the point where I didn’t find the threat convincing.  Likewise, the motivation of the Invincible crew was never clear. They could have flown away at any time. The lack of good storytelling is almost offset by the provocative ideas and descriptions.

Is it psi-fi? Maybe a little. There are some real issues raise about how to “outguess” an enemy that has no mind and no understandable motivation. But that theme was thin and countervailed by irrational anthropomorphism. Mostly, the book is just a rip-roaring sci-fi adventure.

Lem, Stanislaw (1964/2020). The Invincible. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 219 pp.